RTI Act: Maharashtra has most pending complaints

A Staggering 4,000 Complaints Await Redressal

Viju B

Mumbai: One year after the Right to Information Act came into effect, it has
run into a roadblock with a large pendency of complaints and second appeals
piling up at the office of the State Information Commission. In fact,
Maharashtra tops in the number of pending complaints-a staggering 4,000-and
appeals under the RTI Act.

    The State Information Commissioner has to handle complaints that come to
him from across Maharashtra. "We find it difficult to go through all the
complaints as there is a huge staff crunch,'' admits a senior official at
the Information Commission office. The government has not acted on repeated
pleas to provide more staff.

    Though the panel had a budgetary allocation for a 51-member staff
strength which include a law officer and a registrar, the current staff
strength stands at a mere 18. A proposal to start two Information
Commissions at Nagpur and Aurangabad still remains on paper. "The proposal
was passed in September and even two bureaucrats were recommended for the
post of information commissioners, but they are yet to be appointed,'' said
RTI activist Shailesh Gandhi. Activists are shocked at the government's
ineptitude as other states have three to four information commissioners,
while Maharashtra, which gets the maximum complaints, has just one.

The government had earlier selected 21 people from a cross section of society to be considered for the post of information commissioners. But again two bureaucrats-Vilas Patil and Vijay Borge-were selected. Activists say minutes of the committee meeting, got through an RTI query, show that no discussion was held, and it only records that these two
were selected for Aurangabad and Nagpur.


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